The VT 10.5 was a

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are als ...

that was developed by the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remaine ...

in the early 1950s. It was first displayed in public at the International Transport Exhibition in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

in 1953.

Design and operation

Two train sets were built with significant differences in construction. The day train, "Senator" (VT 10 501), consisted of seven cars, including the front and rear engine unit. The cars were connected by single

Jacobs axles Jacobs may refer to: Businesses and organisations *Jacob's, a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in Ireland and the UK *Jacobs (coffee), a brand of coffee *Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company, former American aircraft engine company ...

. Only the first bogies of the power units were twin-axle bogies, both axles being powered. The "Senator" was on duty between

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

/Main from May 1954 until November 1957. The night train, " Komet" (VT 10 551), was different from the "Senator" though its shape looked similar at first sight. Its livery was notably different. Instead of single Jacobs axles connecting the cars, twin-axle

Jacobs bogie Jacobs bogies (named after Wilhelm Jakobs,, 1858–1942, a German mechanical railway engineer) are a type of rail vehicle bogie commonly found on articulated railcars and tramway vehicles. Instead of being underneath a piece of rolling stock ...

s were used. The "Komet" was delivered with 7 (2+5) cars from the outset and soon afterwards equipped with an additional dining car. All available online pictures show the Komet with 8 cars (2+6). In 1956, an additional car (conference car 551i) was built for the first foreign journey by a German President after the Second World War. Due to the train's limited power, another car had to be taken out of the train in order to accommodate car 551i. The conference car is the only surviving unit. "Komet" had better driving characteristics than "Senator", which was described as behaving a bit like a goods wagon. "Komet" was in service between

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

and

from May 1954 until December 1960 and was operated by the DSG (Deutsche Schlafwagen Gesellschaft/German sleeping car company).

Technical data

The VT 10 501 was built by

Linke-Hofmann-Busch Alstom Transport Deutschland, formerly Linke-Hofmann-Busch, is a German manufacturing company originally established in Wrocław, Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) to produce locomotives and rolling stock. Its origins lay in the wheelwright business ...

in 1953 for the Deutsche Bundesbahn. It was designed as a seven-unit train. Every pair of intermediate cars had a common Jacobs axle; only the power cars had twin-axled, powered bogies. The VT 10 551 built in 1953 for the

Deutsche Schlafwagen- und Speisewagengesellschaft The German Sleeper and Dining Car Company (''Deutsche Schlafwagen- und Speisewagengesellschaft'', later the ''Deutsche Service-Gesellschaft der Bahn'' or ''DSG'') was a subsidiary of Deutsche Bundesbahn with its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, t ...

Wegmann Wegmann is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alain Wegmann (born 1958), Swiss professor of systemic modeling * Alice Wegmann (born 1995), Brazilian actress * Christian Wegmann (born 1976), German cyclist * Fabian Wegmann ...

in Kassel and taken over on 1 January 1955 by the Deutsche Bundesbahn. The trailer cars were linked by twin-axled

s; the power cars had twin-axled, powered bogies. Each power car was equipped with two

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s of Type D 1548 G, each developing . Later, the power was increased to per engine. The original version had a top speed of ; the later version could attain this speed was never used in the time table. To supply

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may ...

to the train, two additional diesel engines were installed, each capable of . Power transmission was

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

with a mechanical four-way

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), diffe ...

Gallery

File:VT10551i 1.jpg File:VT10551i 2.jpg File:VT10551i 3.jpg File:VT10551i 4.jpg

External links

Site about the VT 10.5 "Komet" (night train)
{{German DMUs Diesel multiple units of Germany Articulated passenger trains